A psychodiagnostic tool for the structural assessment of the social network in patients with schizophrenia: validity and psychometric properties

Abstract

The aim of the study was to develop a new valid psychometric diagnostic tool for a multi-factor social network assessment of schizophrenic patients, called «The structural assessment of the social network of schizophrenic patients». The new development is based on the social network analysis model elaborated by S. L. Phillips (1981) and translated into Russian by Gurovich I. Ya. et al. (2007). The authors of this article additionally developed an algorithm for assessing the activity of patients on social networks of the Internet. Reducing non-informative variables and conducting a confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 265 observations of schizophrenic patients (F20.0) aged from 18 to 55, recruited in four medical organizations (145 patients admitted to the hospital and 55 outpatients), resulted in determining a four-factor structure of the patients’ social network: «Objective parameters», «Internet activity», «Emotional aspect of social support» and«Reciprocal support». The method has demonstrated high internal and external validity, as well as applicability in the clinical practice in schizophrenia due to the low resource consumption and compact applicability. Measurable factor indicators of the patients’ social networks obtained by using the structural assessment of the social network of schizophrenic patients allow to determine the targets for psychocorrectional interventions and to increase the effectiveness of psychosocial rehabilitation. In addition an automated method for calculating final indicators has been developed, as well as manual, practical recommendations and corresponding printed forms.

Keywords

• schizophrenia
• social network
• social functioning
• quality of life
• internet use